The day of reckoning

Part of moving is rediscovering all the stuff you thought you would someday find a use for and coming to the realization that there never was one and that you're just a hoarder. For me, that meant finding these:

Now, some (most?) people would have just sighed and thrown them out. But others, with inquiring minds and an abundance of time, might decide to sort and count them and tabulate the results for... posterity? Sure! So, out of 183 Ritter Sport bars consumed by yours truly (with some assistance, I hope and presume) in the period between January 2011 and August 2012,

42 were Halbbitter*
41 were Marzipan
20 were Mousse au Chocolat
15 were Nougat
12 were Noisette
8 were Olympia
7 were Pfefferminz
7 were Amarena Kirsch, and
31 were something else (aka the lesser Ritter Sport flavours)

Would you like to see that represented as a pie chart? Of course you would!

Unfortunately there are some weaknesses in this study. I didn't save every wrapper - some were lost in transit. Some of the wrappers (and the chocolate they once contained) were won in bets, meaning that the contents did not accurately represent my preferences, but rather those of the bet loser. However, I think that the sample size is sufficient to compensate for the effects of these factors.

*Halbbitter chocolate therefore mathematically = the meaning of life.

Heaven on Earth

After you see the Fernsehturm and the Brandenburg Gate (or before - I'm not judging), you should probably head on over to Ritter Sport World.

You can buy Ritter Sport in the Schokoladen.

You can eat food and drink beverages made with Ritter Sport in the Schoko-café.

 

And you can learn things about Ritter Sport (like how they make it and why it's

called "Sport") in the little museum. So it's *cough* an educational trip.

This is such stuff as dreams are made on

Grillen is one of my favourite things about German summer. As soon as it's warm enough to sit outside in the evenings, most conversations seem to go like this: "Oh hey, what should we do tonight? I KNOW LET'S GRILL SOMETHING!" And judging by this find, this summer's going to be the best yet.

I feel like this is pretty self-explanatory.

Chocolate.
Fondue.
For the BBQ.

You get it. I'll keep you posted.

Euro euro bill y'all

You know how sometimes in Canada the bank machine gives you a 50-dollar bill and you know it's going to be a nightmare to get rid of? But you try to pay with it anyway, because of how it's legal tender, and then the cashier looks at you like you've just escaped from an insane asylum? You know?

Well, today the woman in front of me at the drugstore paid for lip chap and shampoo with a 500-Euro bill. The cashier held it up to the light, shrugged, and gave her 496 Euros of change. I should mention that it's ridiculously easy to get rid of 50-Euro bills (and even 100-Euro bills) in Germany. I always cringe inwardly when I have to pay with one, but nobody's ever objected.

But 500 Euros is over 650 dollars. It's more than I earn in two weeks. I could buy my own weight in Ritter Sport with that bill.

Brand loyalty

This is the kitchen ceiling in Beni and Tobi's WG. The mural goes up one wall, across the ceiling, and down the other and is made entirely of Ritter Sport packages! Epic, n'est-ce pas?

Much like an old-world cathedral, this mural came into being thanks to years of dedication and sacrifice, which means you can track the evolution of Ritter Sport packaging as you move from the eastern to the western wall. It's practically a museum.

Ritter Sport

Ritter Sport (aka God's gift to Germans) was on sale last week for 0.59 Euros instead of 0.95 Euros, which is, like, 50% off.* Om. Nom. Nom.


*I'm not math-challenged; there's a difference between 50% off and, like, 50% off.